The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 289, 7 December 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1874.

A nnmber of colored glasses, specially prepared for observing the transit of Venus on Wednesday next, have been imported into Nelson, and are on sale at Messrs Lucas and Son's, Mr HounseH's, and Mr Jackson's. Radical Reform League. — The League have advertised that their last meeting but one during the current year is to be held, but have omitted to state when. A full attendance is requested. Dbamatio Entertainment.— Our readers «re reminded that the entertainment by the City Rifles Dramatic Company will be repeat d this evening. Tickets, we learn, are being rapid.y dispose t of. Nelson Waterw rks.— The City Council noiity that the 27th clause of the Waterworks Act will henceforth be strictly enforced. Tbis clause provides that any per -on wilfully wasting the water shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £10. College Spobts. — The annual sports will be held in the College grounds on Thursday afternoon next commencing at one o'clock On the present occasion they will be limited to one day instead of two as bas bitherto been the custom. A keen competition is anticipated for the Champion Cnp. Exhibition of Pictures.— On his recent visit t . Europe, the Bishop of Nelson made a very beautiful collection of photographs and autotypes, an opportunity of inspecting which he is desirous of affording to the public of Nelson, and he bas consequent y made arrangements for exhibiting them in the Provincial HaU, which has been kindly placed at his disposal lor the purpose by the Government, on Monay next, the 1 4th instant, and the two following days. The photographs, many of which were purchased in Rome, are quite new, and some of them are really nwgnificent, both as regards size and execution. Among the subjects, some of which are fully represented, are Ravenna, Pompeii, Florence, the Holy Land, the Sinaitic Peninsula, Egyut, Cambridge, the British Museum, Australian scenery, the Albert' Memorial, cuneiform inscriptions and carvings from Assyria, and also a facsimile cast of the earliest Chaldcean account of the deluge; recently discovered at Nineveh by Mr George Smith. In addition to the above, there is a collection of autotypes from sketches by the old masters, which constitute permanent facsimiles of their drawings. Besides these there are the new publica'ions of the Arundel Soci-ty, whose chromo-lithographs have a world-wide reputation. The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge on the afternoons of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednt sday, a. well as on the evenings of the two first days, when short descriptive lectures, nverspersed witb music, wi 1 be given by gentlemen who have visited the scenes represented. Further particulars will be advertised. The lovers of art in Nelson should feel deeply indebted to B g**op Suter for the treat lv is about to provide for them. At Stru-m Station, Mr A. S. Robertson's 34,000 sheep were ehorn by sixteen shearers in twenty-four days, or on an average of 88 sbeep per man per day. Tbe submarine boat scheme for dredging the Molyneux (says the Cromwell Argus) is at latt in a fair way to get a trial. The company have taken up a claim at Cornish Beach, a beach that acquired great renown in former days ns a rich depository of the precious metal.

In reply to the address delivered to him nt Blenheim, Bishop Redwood gave expression in eloquent and fervid terms to the warm feelings with which he r. oeived tbe kindly welcome that had been given to him. He thanked the Rev Father Sauzeau for his ex- ! pressious of affection, and more particularly for hi 3 sentiments in reference to the Holy Father of the Church and his sufferings, His Lordship also referred generally to the clergy, and to tbe aid they would give in the work of the Church's mission. His Lordship then tbonked the laity, and expressed his confidence tbat they would accord to him a dutiful support in bis ministration Towards tbe close of his address, his Lordship referred to his mother in terms that touched the hearts of all his hearers. He referred to the sacrifice hia mother bad made wbeo, by the direction of God, she was led tv Bend her son forth. That sacrifice had led

step by step, circumstance by circumstance, until it had placed him, the son, in the position he now held. What had thus come to pass should demonstrate how frequently, when tbe greatest sacrifice Beems to be made, the reward comes to us io the fulness of time. His Lordship then informed the congregation that he had brought home two benedictions, one for themselves sod ooe for his mother. Those benedictions would be as if they were actually given by bis Holiness himself. It was the last thing that he had asked of tbe Holy Father, that he should give him a blessing to bring to his (the Bishop's) mother, and it had been willingly granted. His Lordship concluded with a blessing a most eloquent address, which was listens;] to with the most profound attention. The Transit of Venus.-— The Australasian says tbat about seventy-five parties of observation are stationed in various parts of this hemisphere, sent by the different Governments, at a total cost of between £190,000 and £250,000, not including the expense of tbe local subsidiary parties. The general results will not, owing to the elaborate calculations necessary, be accurately known before 1876. The Wellington correspondent of the Marlborough Express says:— A case decided yesterday in the Resident. Magistrate's Court may impart a useful lesson. The plaintiff sold an hotel, aud received a £50 cheque on deposit. The defendant afterwards demurred to the purchase, aod stopped paymeat of the cheque. Tbe action was to enforce payment, and was successful so far as judgment went, but while judgment deliberated the defendant decamped. New Zealand Insurance Com-PANY.—To-day tbe New Zealand Insurance Company commences business with its increased capital of £1,000,000, of which £200,000 is paid up, while there is a re-insurande fund of £40,000 provided for. The extraordinary success of this company has been so frequently a subject of remark that there is little need to sing its praises in a repetition of figures, or to record in tabulated columns the rapid strides it has made year by year since 1859. The establishment of new offices in the colony bas in no degree lessened its busineas, as was proved by the last half-yearly balance-sheet, in which it was shewn that,- notwithstanding the increased competition, the premiums for the year ending 31st May last amounted to £53,216, or an increase of £18,790 upon the preceding half-year and an increase of £11,495 upon tbe corresponding half-year of 1873. The rapid progress of the company since its establishment fourteen years since, when its premium receipts only amounted to £5390, to its present standing, when its premium receipts were, bs per last half-yearly statement, £107,643, is matter of history in commercial circles. It is not, therefore, surprising that public confidence should be so fully established that the additional shares have been so readily taken np, notwithstanding the aspersions ati tempted to be cast upon the legitimacy of the proposal to increase the company's capital by the issue of new shares. We have already pointed out what we believe to be the becasion of the success of the New Zealand Insurance Company; and this we repeat. It is dne to the fact that the local Board of Directors have a large interest in the concern, and are therefore naturally anxious that the affairs they have essayed to conduct shall be carried out in a successful manner, and therefore it is that the proper conduct of the institution receives a large amount of care and attention at their hands. Added to this, as we have already shown, their business has month by montb been progressing, is now spread^ over a wide area, and the great progress of the colony has also contributed largely to the progress of the company. — New Zealand Herali_ Dec. 1. The Westport Evening Star says: — It will be remembered that during the Parliamentary session, 1873, Mr Macandrew, the Superintendent of Otago, made application for a subsidy to a steam boat service connecting Dunedin with th 6 West and East Coast trade of the South Island. The subsidy was granted witbout much demur, but until now no individual or proprietary owners of a steam vessel hava availed themselves of the grant. The last files of the Otago Daily Times to hand, however, now give the news that preparations are being made. The steamer Maori, well known in the southern trade, is undergoing a thorough overhaul at Port Chalmers, " prior to being put on her new route from Dune din to the Bluff, and other bays on the West Coast, as well as ports of call, such as Hokitika, Greymoutb, and Nelson." The Maori will be under tbe command of Captain Malcolm, well known on the West Coast as once skipper of the steamer Bruce. Mr Domett's Poem and its author have been referred to in terms of high praise by the Hon. Mr Par kes, the Premier of New South Wales. The foundation stone of a new School of Arts was laid the other day by that gentleman in Newcastle, and in the course of his speech on the occasion he spoke of the book and its author in these terms :— " He might mention tbat a gentleman had recently left tbis part of the world, after living here five-and-twenty-years, and he had produced one of the most remarkable books of this generation. And, so far as he knew, not a single copy of fa book had reached tbe colony of New Sooth

Wales. It did seem lo bim a great reflection upon the character, thought, and civilisation of this colony, that a book like that should have been issued, and have been required to be mentioned iv a meeting like the present. He referred to the work recently published by Mr Domett, of New Zealand. Alfred Domett was a young man of literary promise when Alfred Tennyson aod Robert Browning were young men. And* he was looked upon as being just as likely to make a position for himself in English literature as they were. All of a sudden, Domett left England, and his friends did not know where he had gone to. But it seemed he migrated to New Zealand j and subsequently became Colonial Secretary and Prime Minister of that colony, holding that high office through one of the moat obstinate of the Maori wars. At tbat time no one suspected the man of being anything more than Colonial Secretary. But he had recently gone to England and had published a great poem— one of the preatest poems of his age, and which he supposed had been the darling work of the man through all his years of toil in New Zealand, and of which no one but himself knew anything. In the book, which contained 500 pages, every one of which glowed with poetical pictures of New Zealand life, there waa a most successful attempt to preserve the character, traditions, modes of warfare, and social habits of the Maori nation. And would any man or woman present cay that it was not a worthy object of geoius to preserve in glowing, imperishable language, the noble character of that most interesting race. The literary merit of the work was sufficient to class it on a level with the best work of our time. Now he alluded to this remarkable work of Mr Domett, to say that every Mechanic's Institute in the colony ought to have a copy of it. The committees of such institutions, as he had said before, ought to procure every, work that treated of these Australasian colonies. (.For remainder of News see fourth page.)